Vietnam Veteran Fighting For Wife's Life

CentraCare, St. Cloud man clash on plan for wife's care 
St. Cloud Times
Kevin Allenspach
February 1, 2015

Charles Holmes communicates with his wife, Tahnee Hughes-Holmes, in their home Jan. 22 in St. Cloud. Hughes-Holmes was paralyzed in a car accident and then suffered a cardiac arrest just over a year ago.
(Photo: Dave Schwarz)

Charles Holmes has disagreed with CentraCare about a potential care plan that would deny life-saving measures for his wife, Tahnee Hughes-Holmes, who is a quadriplegic and dependent on a ventilator.

For almost half her life, Tahnee Hughes-Holmes has lived as a quadriplegic in St. Cloud.

A victim of a drunken driver, she was able to maneuver in a motorized wheelchair, go garage-saling or to the movies for almost 20 years after becoming paralyzed. And she was known for speaking her mind.

That changed a little more than a year ago when she suffered a cardiac arrest while in St. Cloud Hospital, resulting in a brain injury that has made her dependent on a ventilator and robbed her of speech.

Since a monthlong hospitalization last fall, the 46-year-old has lived at home the south edge of St. Cloud. Her constant companion, other than a rotation of personal care attendants, is her husband, Charles Holmes, who has been by her side since 1991.

Holmes knows what it's like to suffer. He served in the Army in the late 1970s and said he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in 1997, years after he moved to Central Minnesota to get treatment through the St. Cloud VA Health Care System. Holmes went from job to job until going on disability in 2002. He said the PTSD is rooted in his service, but didn't want to elaborate.
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Iraq Veteran Killed Saving Others On Idaho Highway

Hero to the end — Iraq veteran killed while helping car accident victims 
Idaho State Journal
By David Ashby
February 1, 2015

BLACKFOOT — Kyle Pratt was a hero to the very end.

On his way to work in the early morning hours of Jan. 19, the 27-year-old was involved in a large pile-up on I-84 near Boise that involved at least eight cars. Visibility was extremely limited due to thick fog and the road was coated in black ice.

“The coroner said the road was so slick you couldn’t even stand on it,” said Jeff Pratt, Kyle’s father.

As Kyle approached the wrecked cars in front of him, he swerved and crashed into the median.

Uninjured, Pratt immediately left his damaged car and started assisting the other crash victims.

But Pratt’s heroics would ultimately cost him his life.

As two cars approached the wreckage, Pratt pushed two people out of harm’s way. One of the vehicles hit Pratt, killing him at the scene.

From 2006 to 2010, Pratt served aboard the U.S.S. John C. Stennis supercarrier as a machinist during the Iraq War. Jeff and Suzan, Kyle’s mother, still have his service flag hanging in the front window of their Blackfoot home.
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Troops in Afghanistan Super Bowl Party 5,000 Pizzas

Chicago charity sending 5,000 pizzas to troops in Afghanistan
By The Associated Press
February 1, 2015

CHICAGO (AP) — Make it 5,000 pizzas to go please.

And so it will be that the roughly 11,000 U.S. troops left in Afghanistan will get a slice of home for Super Bowl Sunday.

Pizzas4Patriots.com is teaming with Rich Foods and DHL to send 5,000 pies to American service members across Afghanistan.
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Super Bowl Shoutout to Troops
℠2015 - The New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks face off in Super Bowl XLIX and players from both sides express their appreciation for the troops.

Vancouver SWAT Veteran Standoff Peaceful End

Allen St. standoff: Man sticks loaded gun in friend's face 
TDN News
Marissa Luck
January 31, 2015

Renford said Kennedy, a security worker the Weyerhaeuser Co. mill site, is a good person who has struggled with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. They served in the army together, including a stint in Iraq in 2004. Kennedy was having a hard time accessing treatment at Vancouver Veteran’s Affairs, Renford said, and was self-medicating with alcohol.

Rex Renford never expected his best friend to point a gun at his face. Standing at the end of loaded pistol, Renford said he feared for his life. But instinct and years of military training kicked in, helping him to disarm his friend Ronald Kennedy.

“I had to get the gun away from him,” Renford, 47, of Longview said Friday, the day after police arrested Kennedy after a two-hour standoff at his Kelso trailer home off Allen Street near Taco Bell and Burger King. “There was no thinking about it. It was do this or die.”

Kennedy, 47, was hanging out with Renford and another friend, Lynne Galloway, Thursday night when Kennedy’s ex-girlfriend Margaret Sullivan showed up to pick up belongings. Sullivan told police she and Kennedy had broken up last weekend. The couple got into a heated argument.

When Sullivan left, Kennedy wandered into his bedroom, drunk and upset, Renford said. Renford said he went to check on Kennedy and found him with pistol pointed at his head. He threatened to kill himself. read more here

Family Searching For Missing Texas Afghanistan Veteran

Sad update February 4, 2016 NBC reported this.
Remains found in Harris County, Texas have been positively identified as those of missing Army veteran Brian Orolin, who disappeared in November 2014.


Volunteers to search for missing veteran
KHOU News Houston
Larry Seward
January 30, 2015

THE WOODLANDS, Texas – Veterans and volunteers plan to lead a search party to find missing veteran Brian Orolin, 42. He has not been seen since November. His wife and two daughters are anxious for closure.

Between dogs and daughters, Donna Orolin's hands are full, especially with her heart and soul missing.

"I'm not eating,"

Donna Orolin said. "I'm not sleeping. I'm financially stressed because he took care of that. He did everything for us. I need my partner."

Brian Orolin is passionate about those he loves. He planned every aspect of his wedding, his wife said. Brian even cooked three meals a day to make sure his three- and five-year-old daughters ate their favorite meals.

He also served his country. One tour in Afghanistan sent him home wounded. He suffered through headaches, post-traumatic stress and struggled to get around without his service dog named "Battle."

Still, Orolin battled until November 19th.

"We haven't seen him since," Donna Orolin said.
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Dayton VA Employee Checked on Decomposed Veteran?

Dayton hospital employee subject of neglect investigation in vet's death 
Employee not yet facing charges
WLWT News
Karin Johnson
Jan 29, 2015

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio —A man who was supposed to be caring for a Middletown Army veteran is under investigation for negligence.

Police are not naming the worker because charges have not yet been filed, but they say he worked for the Dayton Veterans Affairs Hospital. Watch this story The health care worker was supposed to be caring for 62-year-old Calvin Coleman, who lived on Carolina Street.

Coleman was found dead inside his home March 28, 2014. Police say the VA employee reported checking on Coleman the day before. The coroner says that's not possible.

"Due to the amount of decomposition to Calvin's body, they knew this could not have happened. 

He died three or four days before his body was discovered," Lt. Scott Reeve said.
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Suicide claimed 19 Canadian soldiers in 2014

Suicide claimed 19 Canadian soldiers in 2014, military says
Torstar News Service
By Staff
January 29, 2015

A photo of Cpl. Stuart Langridge is seen along with his beret and medals on a table during a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on October 28, 2010. He was one of the soldiers who suffered with post-traumatic stress disorder and killed himself.

OTTAWA—There were 19 suicides among soldiers serving in the Canadian Armed Forces in 2014, one of the highest levels in the last decade, new figures show.

There were 16 suicides among regular force males and another three suicides among reservists though some deaths remain under investigation, said Brig.-Gen. Jean-Robert Bernier, surgeon general for the Canadian Armed Forces. There were no suicides among female regular force members in 2014.

That compares to the 13 suicides last year and is topped only by the 25 deaths in 2011 and 22 deaths in 2009, according to Defence Department statistics that date back to 2004.

In the Commons Wednesday, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair asked about the recent death of Sgt. Jesse Tait, based at CFB Shilo in Manitoba.

“Sgt. Tait was struggling with depression. His mother says that when he went for help, he was turned away,” Mulcair said.
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Convicted Ex-Cops Stole Medications From Sick

Married Ex-Cops Sorry About Crimes, But Get 3 Years in Prison
Times of San Diego
POSTED BY ALEXANDER NGUYEN
JANUARY 30, 2015

“These two have betrayed the badge,” the prosecutor said. “They were wolves in sheep’s clothing.”

Two married former San Diego police officers who broke into people’s homes while on duty and stole prescription painkillers to feed their drug addictions were each sentenced Friday to three years in state prison.

Bryce Charpentier, 32, and Jennifer Charpentier, 42, pleaded guilty in November to conspiracy to commit a burglary, conspiracy to commit a crime — possession and sale of a controlled substance — selling or furnishing a narcotic substance and possession of a firearm by an addict.

The Charpentiers admitted sending text messages to each other in order to set up burglaries in which they stole prescription drugs from people with whom they had contact while on duty. The defendants also admitted stealing Hydrocodone and selling the drug, even taking one of their four children along on one of the deliveries, authorities said.

Bryce Charpentier — a six-year SDPD veteran — apologized to the San Diego Police Department and the community for his actions, saying he became addicted to painkillers because of post-traumatic stress disorder along with disc, hip and spinal pain.

Deputy District Attorney Matthew Tag, arguing for a seven-year prison term for Jennifer Charpentier and six years in prison for her husband, said the defendants stole from the sick in order to get high.

“These two have betrayed the badge,” the prosecutor said. “They were wolves in sheep’s clothing.”
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Camp Pendleton Afghanistan Veteran Marine Trial Ends

Former Camp Pendleton Marine gets 11 years in prison for DUI crash that killed 3 fellow servicemen
Orange County Register
Sean Emery
January 30, 2015

Arguing that Hale's drinking was an attempt to self-medicate in order to cope with post-traumatic stress disorder from his experiences in heavy combat in Sangin, Afghanistan,

Jared Hale, a former Camp Pendleton Marine sergeant convicted of a drunken-driving crash that killed three of his fellow Marines, listens as he is sentenced at the West Justice Center in Westminster on Friday.
KEVIN SULLIVAN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

A former Camp Pendleton Marine sergeant convicted of killing three other servicemen in a drunken-driving crash was sentenced Friday to more than a decade in prison, as an Orange County Superior Court judge denied his request for treatment rather than time behind bars.

Jared Hale, 27, told Judge Terri K. Flynn-Peister that for the rest of his life he will have to live with the loss of Sgt. Jeremiah Callahan, 23; Cpl. Christopher Arzola, 21; and Cpl. Jason Chleborad, 22, all of whom suffered fatal injuries in the 2012 crash in Dana Point.

"It's been a rough five years," Hale said, his voice unsteady with apparent emotion. "But there is just not much left of me, honestly."
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Fort Bragg: Marine's Death Caused By "Malfunction"

Report: Cause of Marine’s death on Fort Bragg similar to previous seat malfunctions
Fayetteville Observer
By Amanda Dolasinski
Published: Friday, January 30, 2015

Marine Lance Cpl. Steven J. Szymanski reached over the front seat of a light armored vehicle to grab his helmet.

In doing so, the lever that raises the seat was accidentally triggered and Szymanski was trapped with his neck between the back of the driver’s seat and the ceiling of the vehicle.

At least 15 minutes passed before a fellow Marine found Szymanski and pulled him out. By then, according to officials, it was too late.

A 147-page report obtained Thursday by the Observer details the Marine’s accidental death on Fort Bragg last year and shows that at least 11 other Marines from his unit had experienced similar seat malfunctions.
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